← 1965 1964 1963 1966 in the United States → 1967 1968 1969
Decades:	1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s
See also:	History of the United States (1964–1980) Timeline of the history of the United States (1950-1970) List of years in the United States

This is a list of notable events that took place in1966 in the United States.

• President:Lyndon B. Johnson (D-Texas)
• Vice President:Hubert Humphrey (D-Minnesota)
• Chief Justice:Earl Warren (California)
• Speaker of the House of Representatives:John William McCormack (D-Massachusetts)
• Senate Majority Leader:Mike Mansfield (D-Montana)
• Congress:89th

• January 2 –1966 New York City transit strike: A wildcat strike bypublic transportation workers inNew York City, led byMike Quill, begins, designed to coincide with the beginning of RepublicanJohn V. Lindsay's mayoralty. (The strike ends on January 13.)
• January 3
  • Sammy Younge Jr. is shot inTuskegee, Alabama, the firstAfrican American university student to be murdered due to his actions in support of thecivil rights movement.
  • The first of theAcid Tests is conducted atThe Fillmore inSan Francisco.
• January 10 – The home of civil rights activistVernon Dahmer inHattiesburg, Mississippi, is firebombed. Dahmer's family escapes but he dies the next day from severe burns. (White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan Imperial WizardSamuel Bowers will be unsuccessfully tried for this murder on four occasions before being convicted in 1998.)
• January 11 – The firstSR-71 Blackbird reconnaissance aircraft goes into service atBeale AFB.
• January 12
  • United States PresidentLyndon Johnson states that the United States should stay inSouth Vietnam untilCommunist aggression there is ended.
  • Batman premieres onABC television.
• January 13 –Robert C. Weaver becomes the first African American Cabinet member by being appointedUnited States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
• January 16 – TheChicago Bulls are granted entry to theNational Basketball Association.
• January 17 –1966 Palomares B-52 crash: A USAFB-52 bomber collides with aKC-135 Stratotanker over Spain, dropping three 70-kilotonhydrogen bombs near the town ofPalomares, and one into the sea.Carl Brashear, the first African AmericanUnited States Navy diver, is involved in an accident during the recovery of the latter which results in the amputation of his leg.
• January 18 – About 8,000 U.S. soldiers land inSouth Vietnam; U.S. troops now total 190,000.
• January 27 – The British government promises the U.S. that British troops inMalaysia will stay until more peaceful conditions occur in the region.
• January 29 – The first of 608 performances ofSweet Charity opens at the Palace Theatre inNew York City.

• February 8 – TheNational Hockey League awardsPittsburgh a second franchise, thePittsburgh Penguins.
• February 9 – The National Hockey League awards theTwin Cities area a franchise, theMinnesota North Stars.
• February 28 – U.S. astronautsCharles Bassett andElliot See arekilled in a plane crash inSt. Louis, Missouri.

• March 4 –The Beatles: In an interview published in the LondonEvening Standard,John Lennon comments, "We'remore popular than Jesus now," sparking a controversy in the United States.
• March 7 – French presidentCharles De Gaulle asks U.S. PresidentLyndon B. Johnson for negotiations about the state ofNATO equipment inFrance.
• March 8 –Vietnam War: U.S. announces it will substantially increase its number of troops inVietnam.
• March 12 –Bobby Hull of theChicago Blackhawks sets theNational Hockey League single season scoring record against theNew York Rangers, with his 51st goal.
• March 16
  • Gemini 8 (David Scott,Neil Armstrong) docks with anAgena target vehicle.
  • The lastStudebaker production facility is closed.
• March 17 –Palomares incident: Off the Mediterranean coast of Spain, the United States NavysubmersibleDSVAlvin finds a missing U.S.hydrogen bomb.
• March 19 – TheTexas Western Miners defeat theKentucky Wildcats with five African American starters, ushering in desegregation in athletic recruiting.
• March 21 – In a landmark obscenity case,Memoirs v. Massachusetts, theSupreme Court rules that the hitherto banned 18th-century English novelFanny Hill does not meet theRoth Standard for obscenity.
• March 22 – InWashington, D.C.,General Motors President James M. Roche appears before a Senate subcommittee, and apologizes to consumer advocateRalph Nader for the company's intimidation and harassment campaign against him.
• March 24 –Harper v. Virginia State Board of Elections, decided in the Supreme Court, rules that requiring payment of apoll tax as eligibility to vote in state elections is unconstitutional.^[1]
• March 26 – Demonstrations are held across the U.S. against theVietnam War.
• March 28 – The Prime Minister ofIndia,Indira Gandhi, visitsWashington, D.C.
• March 29 – The 23rd Communist Party Conference is held in theSoviet Union;Leonid Brezhnev demands that American troops leave Vietnam, and announces that Chinese-Soviet relations are unsatisfactory.

• April 1 –Animated sitcomThe Flintstones airs its series finale on theABC network.
• April 8 –Time magazine cover story asks "Is God Dead?"
• April 13
  • Time's cover story is "London: The Swinging City".
  • PresidentLyndon Johnson signs the 1966Uniform Time Act, dealing withdaylight saving time.
• April 18 – The38th Academy Awards ceremony, hosted byBob Hope, is held atSanta Monica Civic Auditorium.Robert Wise'sThe Sound of Music jointly wins and receives the most awards and nominations withDavid Lean'sDoctor Zhivago, respectively winning five and receiving ten each. The former's wins includeBest Picture and Wise's secondBest Director award.
• April 19 –Bobbi Gibb becomes the first woman to run the Boston Marathon.
• April 21 – Anartificial heart is installed in the chest of Marcel DeRudder in aHouston, Texas hospital.
• April 29 – U.S. troops inVietnam total 250,000.
• April 30 – TheChurch of Satan is formed byAnton Szandor LaVey inSan Francisco.
• April –Hidden Valley Downs horse racing track opens in Kansas.^[2]
• April –Playboy publish its interview with the leader of theAmerican Nazi PartyGeorge Lincoln Rockwell.^[3]

• May 5 – TheMontreal Canadiens defeat theDetroit Red Wings to win theStanley Cup in ice hockey.
• May 12
  • Busch Memorial Stadium opens inSt Louis, Missouri.
  • Radio Peking claims that U.S. planes have shot down a Chinese plane overYunnan (the U.S. denies the story the next day).
• May 15 – Tens of thousands of anti-war demonstrators again picket theWhite House, then rally at theWashington Monument.
• May 16
  • InNew York City, Dr.Martin Luther King Jr. makes his first public speech on theVietnam War.
  • The albumPet Sounds byThe Beach Boys is released.
• May 19 –Murder of Sylvia Likens: Gertrude Baniszewski is found guilty of torturing and murdering 16-year-old Sylvia Likens in Indiana and is sentenced to life in prison (she is released on parole in December1985).^[4]
• May 25 – InSt. Louis, Missouri, U.S. Vice-presidentHubert Humphrey and U.S. Secretary of the InteriorStewart Udall dedicate theGateway Arch.
• May 28
  • Fidel Castro declaresmartial law in Cuba because of a possible U.S. attack.
  • Boat ride "It's a Small World" opens atDisneyland.

• June 1
  • The final new episode ofThe Dick Van Dyke Show airs (the first episode was on October 3, 1961).
  • White House Conference on Civil Rights opens.
• June 2 –Surveyor program:Surveyor 1 lands in Oceanus Procellarum on theMoon, becoming the first U.S.spacecraft to soft-land on another planet.
• June 5 –Gemini 9:Gene Cernan completes the second U.S. spacewalk (2 hours, 7 minutes).
• June 6 –Civil rights activistJames Meredith is shot while trying to march acrossMississippi; he survives.
• June 8
  • AnXB-70 Valkyrie prototype is destroyed in a mid-air collision with anF-104 Starfighter chase plane during a photo shoot.NASA pilotJoseph A. Walker andUSAF test pilot Carl Cross are both killed.
  • 1966 Topeka tornado:Topeka, Kansas is devastated by a tornado that registers as an F5 on theFujita Scale, the first to exceed US$100 million in damages. Sixteen people are killed, hundreds more injured, and thousands of homes damaged or destroyed.^[5]
• June 13 –Miranda v. Arizona: TheSupreme Court of the United States rules that the police must informsuspects of their rights before questioning them.^[6]
• June 18 –CIA chiefWilliam Raborn resigns;Richard Helms becomes his successor.
• June 20 –Bob Dylan's seminal albumBlonde on Blonde is released.
• June 29 –Vietnam War: U.S. planes begin bombingHanoi andHaiphong.
• June 30 – TheNational Organization for Women (NOW) is founded inWashington, D.C.

• July – TheChicago Surrealist Group is founded byFranklin andPenelope Rosemont with others.
• July 4
  • PresidentLyndon B. Johnson signs theFreedom of Information Act, which goes into effect the following year.
  • TheCongress of Racial Equality (CORE) endorses the goal ofBlack Power at a well attended convention inBaltimore, Maryland. Martin Luther King Jr., and Roy Wilkins criticize this declaration.
• July 13 – TheInternational Society for Krishna Consciousness is founded in New York City byA. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
• July 14 –Richard Speck murders eight student nurses in theirChicago dormitory. He is arrested on July 17.
• July 18
  • Gemini 10 (John Young,Michael Collins) is launched. After docking with anAgena target vehicle, the astronauts then set a world altitude record of 474 miles (763 km).
  • TheHough Riots break out inCleveland, Ohio, the city's firstrace riot.
• July 28 – The U.S. announces that aLockheed U-2 reconnaissance plane has disappeared over Cuba.
• July 29 –Bob Dylan is injured in a motorcycle accident near his home inWoodstock, New York. He is not seen in public for over a year.

• August 1 – SniperCharles Whitman kills 13 people and wounds 31 from atop theUniversity of Texas at Austin Main Building tower, after earlier killing his wife and mother.
• August 5
  • Groundbreaking takes place for theWorld Trade Center in New York City.
  • Martin Luther King Jr. leads a civil rights march in Chicago, during which he is struck by a rock thrown from an angry white mob.
  • Caesars Palace hotel and casino opens on theLas Vegas Strip.
• August 6 –Braniff Airlines Flight 250 crashes inFalls City, Nebraska, killing all 42 on board.
• August 7 – Race riots occur inLansing, Michigan.
• August 10 –Lunar Orbiter 1, the first U.S. spacecraft to orbit another world, is launched.
• August 11 –The Beatles hold a press conference inChicago, during whichJohn Lennon apologizes for his "more popular than Jesus" remark, saying, "I didn't mean it as a lousy anti-religious thing."
• August 15 – It is announced that theNew York Herald Tribune will not resume publication.
• August 16 –Vietnam War: TheHouse Un-American Activities Committee starts investigating Americans who have aided theViet Cong, with the intent to make these activities illegal. Anti-war demonstrators disrupt the meeting and 50 are arrested.
• August 22
  • The United Farm Workers Organizing Committee (UFWOC), predecessor of theUnited Farm Workers of America (UFW), is formed.
  • The firstBest Buy opens inSt. Paul, Minnesota.
• August 24 – Rock bandThe Doors record theirself-titled debutLP.
• August 29 –The Beatles play their very last concert atCandlestick Park inSan Francisco, California. Meanwhile, on NBC,Hullabaloo airs its last episode, a rerun with guest starElvis Presley, which previously aired in April of that year.

• September 1 – While waiting at a bus stopRalph Baer, an inventor withSanders Associates, writes a four-page document that lays out the basic principles for creating a video game to be played on a television: the beginning of a multibillion-dollar industry.
• September 7 – The ocean linerSS Hanseatic catches fire and burns in New York Harbor.
• September 8–10 –State visit to the U.S. by the dictator GeneralNe Win, Chairman of the Revolutionary Council of the Union of Burma. He is honored by a 21-gun salute and given the key to the city of Washington D.C., "a long-standing American tradition of welcome". He holds talks with PresidentLyndon Johnson and with the highest ranking U.S. officials at the State Department who reaffirm support for Burmese neutrality. Further talks are held withGeorge Ball, acting Secretary of State, and withAverell Harriman, U.S. Ambassador at Large.^[7] Talks included an exchange of views on world issues and Burmese-American relations, and were officially described as "cordial", and the U.S. president and the General expressed mutual regard, according to a communiqué composed before the visit.^[8] The General also visits Williamsburg in Virginia, the United Nations in New York City (where he is greeted by the Burmese Secretary GeneralU Thant) and Hawaii.^[9]
• September 8 – The classic science fiction seriesStar Trek premieres onNBC with its first episode, titled "The Man Trap".
• September 12 –The Monkees television series premieres onNBC.
• September 16 – TheMetropolitan Opera House opens atLincoln Center inNew York City to the world premiere ofSamuel Barber's opera,Antony and Cleopatra.
• September 18
  • Valerie Percy, the 21-year-old daughter of Illinois Republican senatorial candidateCharles H. Percy, is stabbed and bludgeoned to death in the family mansion on Chicago's North Shore. The crime remains unsolved.
  • Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum opens to the public in California.
• September 19 –Timothy Leary forms the spiritual groupLeague for Spiritual Discovery (LSD).
• September 29 –Chevrolet Camaro car is introduced.

• October –Bobby Seale andHuey P. Newton found theBlack Panther Party.
• October 1 –West Coast Airlines Flight 956 crashes with 18 fatal injuries and no survivors 5.5 miles (8.9 km) south ofWemme, Oregon. This accident marks the first loss of aDC-9.^[10]
• October 5 – An experimentalbreeder reactor at theEnrico Fermi Nuclear Generating Station in Michigan suffers a partial meltdown when its cooling system fails.
• October 6
  • LSD is made illegal in the United States and controlled so strictly that not only are possession and recreational use criminalized, but all legal scientific research programs on the drug in the country are shut down as well.
  • The Love Pageant Rally takes place in thePanhandle of Golden Gate Park (a narrow section that projects into San Francisco'sHaight-Ashbury district).
• October 9 – TheBaltimore Orioles defeat theLos Angeles Dodgers in Game 4 of theWorld Series in baseball, 1–0, to sweep the series for their first World Championship;Frank Robinson wins theTriple Crown.
• October 15
  • U.S. PresidentLyndon B. Johnson signs a bill creating theUnited States Department of Transportation.
  • The U.S. Congress passes a bill for the creation ofPictured Rocks National Lakeshore.
  • ABC broadcasts a highly acclaimed 90-minute television adaptation of the musicalBrigadoon, starringRobert Goulet,Peter Falk, andSally Ann Howes. It wins manyEmmy Awards and inaugurates a short-lived series of special television adaptations of famous Broadway musicals on ABC. Goulet stars in all but one of these specials.
• October 16 –Grace Slick performs live for the first time withJefferson Airplane.
• October 21 – TheAFL-NFL merger in football is approved by the U.S. Congress.
• October 26 – A fire aboard the aircraft carrierUSS Oriskany in theGulf of Tonkin kills 44 crewmen.
• October 27
  • It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown! premieres on theCBS network.
  • Walt Disney records his final filmed appearance prior to his death, detailing his plans forEPCOT, a utopianplanned city to be built in Florida.

• November 1 – TheNational Football League awards its sixteenth franchise to the city ofNew Orleans. The team will be named theNew Orleans Saints.
• November 2 – TheCuban Adjustment Act comes into force, allowing 123,000Cubans the opportunity to apply for permanent residence in the United States.
• November 5 – TheIndiana Dunes National Park is established as a national lakeshore.
• November 6 –Lunar Orbiter 2 is launched.
• November 8
  • FormerMassachusetts Attorney GeneralEdward Brooke becomes the firstAfrican American elected to theUnited States Senate sinceReconstruction.
  • Screen actorRonald Reagan, aRepublican, is electedGovernor ofCalifornia.
• November 14 –Jack L. Warner sellsWarner Bros. toSeven Arts Productions, which eventually becomesWarner Bros.-Seven Arts.
• November 15
  • Gemini 12 (James A. Lovell,Buzz Aldrin) splashes down safely in the Atlantic Ocean.
  • ABoeing 727 freighter onPan Am Flight 708 crashes nearBerlin, Germany, killing all three crew on board.
  • Two young couples in Point Pleasant, West Virginia reportedly see a strangemoth-like creature better known as theMothman.
• November 16 – NeurosurgeonSam Sheppard is acquitted in his second trial for the murder of his pregnant wife in 1954.
• November 17 – A spectacularLeonid meteor shower passes overArizona, at the rate of 2,300 a minute for 20 minutes.
• November 27 – TheWashington Redskins defeat theNew York Giants 72–41 in the highest scoring game inNational Football League history.
• November 28 –Truman Capote'sBlack and White Ball ('The Party of the Century') is held in New York City.

• December 5 – The Supreme Court rules inBond v. Floyd that the Georgia House of Representatives must seat Julian Bond, having violated hisFirst andFourteenth Amendment rights.
• December 15 –Walt Disney dies while producingThe Jungle Book, the last animated feature under his personal supervision.
• December 18 –How the Grinch Stole Christmas, narrated byBoris Karloff, is shown for the first time onCBS. It becomes aChristmas tradition.
• December 24 – New York television stationWPIX broadcastsThe Yule Log for the first time; it becomes a Christmas tradition.
• December 26 – The firstKwanzaa is celebrated byMaulana Karenga, founder of Organization US (a black nationalist group) and later chair ofBlack Studies, atCalifornia State University, Long Beach from 1989 to 2002.

• TheCongress of the United States creates the National Council for Marine Resources and Engineering Development.
• Paramount Pictures Corporation becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of Gulf+Western Industries, Inc.

• Civil rights movement (1954–1968)
• Cold War (1947–1991)
• Space Race (1957–1975)
• Vietnam War, U.S. involvement (1964–1973)

• January 4 –Deana Carter, singer
• January 5 –Kate Schellenbach, musician
• January 7 –Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, actress, model and publicist, wife ofJohn F. Kennedy Jr. (d.1999)
• January 8 –Andrew Wood, musician (d.1990)
• January 11 –Marc Acito, playwright, novelist and humorist
• January 13 –Patrick Dempsey, screen actor and race car driver
• January 14 –Dan Schneider, television producer, screenwriter and actor^[11]
• January 20 –Rainn Wilson, actor
• January 29 –Julie Ann Taylor, voice actress
• January 30 –Deborah Ochs, archer^[12]
• February 1 –Michelle Akers, footballer
• February 10 –Daryl Johnston, American football player
• February 13 –Neal McDonough, American actor
• February 17 –Michael Lepond, bass player
• February 20 –Cindy Crawford, model and actress
• February 22 –Rachel Dratch, actress and comedian
• February 23 –Michael Arata, actor
• February 24 –Billy Zane, actor
• February 25 –Téa Leoni, American actress
• February 26 –Jennifer Grant, actress
• March 1
  • Don Lemon, journalist
  • Zack Snyder, actor, film director, screenwriter and producer
• March 4
  • Daniela Amavia, actress and model
  • Callista Gingrich, businesswoman and diplomat
  • Kevin Johnson, basketball player
  • Dav Pilkey, author and illustrator of children's literature
• March 5
  • Mark Z. Danielewski, author
  • Michael Irvin, American football player
  • Jeff Feagles, American football kicker
• March 10
  • Edie Brickell, singer
  • Mike Timlin, baseball player
• March 11 –Alice Stewart, communications director and pundit (d.2024)^[13]
• March 14
  • Elise Neal, actress
  • Gary Anthony Williams, actor and comedian^[14]
• March 16 –Rodney Peete, African American football quarterback
• March 18 –Jerry Cantrell, guitarist, singer and songwriter
• March 21 –Roy Niederhoffer, hedge fund manager and philanthropist^{[citation needed]}
• March 22 –Martha McSally, politician and military pilot
• March 22
  • Martha McSally, politician and military pilot
  • Pia Cayetano, Filipino Politician
• March 25 –Tom Glavine, baseball player
• March 26 –Michael Imperioli, actor
• March 28
  • Cheryl James, African American rapper (Salt-n-Pepa)
  • Captain Janks, prank phone caller (The Howard Stern Show)
• April 1 –Markus Paul, footballer (d.2020)
• April 2 –Bill Romanowski, American football player
• April 4 –Mike Starr, bassist (Alice in Chains) (d.2011)
• April 8
  • Cynthia Nixon, actress
  • Robin Wright, actress
• April 14
  • David Justice, African American baseball player
  • Greg Maddux, baseball player
  • Joe Tacopina, lawyer
• April 16 –Jeff Varner, newscaster and reality television personality
• April 18 –Michael Shure, journalist
• April 22
  • Dana Barron, actress
  • Jeffrey Dean Morgan, actor
• April 25 –Tim Easton, songwriter
• April 27 –Brian Koppelman, filmmaker, essayist and podcaster
• April 28
  • John Daly, golfer
  • Jackson Galaxy, cat behaviorist
  • Sig Hansen, sea captain
  • Jim Poole, baseball player (d.2023)
• April 29
  • Michael Alig, club promoter, musician, writer and convicted killer (d.2020)
  • Vincent Ventresca, actor
• May 10 –Wade Dominguez, actor, model, singer and dancer (d.1998)
• May 11 –Bill Ackman, activist investor and hedge fund manager
• May 12 –Stephen Baldwin, actor
• May 14
  • Raphael Saadiq, singer-songwriter
  • Mike Inez, musician (Alice In Chains)^[15]
• May 16
  • Janet Jackson, singer^[16]
  • Thurman Thomas, American football player
• May 20
  • Dan Abrams, legal commentator
  • Joey Gamache, boxer
• May 21 –Lisa Edelstein, actress and playwright
• May 24 –Ricky Craven, race car driver and sportscaster
• May 25 –Jeff Cross, American football player
• May 28 –Larry Davis, criminal (died2008)
• June 2 –Candace Gingrich,LGBT rights activist
• June 10 –Laura Silverman, actress and voice actress
• June 14 –
  • Matt Freeman, musician
  • Eduardo Waghorn, Chilean musician
  • Traylor Howard, actress
  • Kathleen Kane, Pennsylvania Attorney General convicted of felony perjury
• June 16 –Phil Vischer, voice actor, puppeteer, writer, animator, creator ofVeggieTales
• June 21 –Rudi Bakhtiar, journalist
• June 27 –Bill Hudson, alpine skier
• June 30 –Mike Tyson, heavyweight boxer
• July 3 –Sandra Lee, television chef and author
• July 5 –Claudia Wells, actress
• July 6
  • Brian Posehn, actor and comedian
  • Glenn Scarpelli, child actor and singer
• July 7 –Jim Gaffigan, comedian and actor
• July 8 –Mike Nawrocki, director, animator, writer, lyricist and voice actor
• July 9
  • Jon Schmidt, pianist
  • Pamela Adlon, actress, voice actress, screenwriter, producer and director
• July 10 –Doug TenNapel, animator, cartoonist and comic book artist
• July 11 –Debbe Dunning, actress
• July 13 –Gerald Levert, singer-songwriter (died2006)
• July 14 –Matthew Fox, actor^[17]
• July 18
  • Lori Alan, actress
  • Dan O'Brien, athlete^[18]
• July 19 –Nancy Carell, actress
• July 21 –Doug Chin, attorney and politician
• July 22 –Tim Brown, American football player
• July 29 –Richard Steven Horvitz, voice actor
• July 30 –Sean Patrick Maloney, politician;U.S. Representative ofNew York since 2013
• August 2 –Tim Wakefield, baseball player (d.2023)
• August 5
  • James Gunn, filmmaker^[19]
  • Jonathan Silverman, actor
• August 7 –Jimmy Wales, co-founder ofWikipedia
• August 10
  • André Sogliuzzo, actor
  • Gerald Williams, baseball player (d.2022)
  • Ryan Idol, pornographic film actor
• August 14 –Halle Berry, film actress^[20]
• August 15 –Scott Brosius, baseball player
• August 17
  • Claire Celsi, politician (d.2025)
  • Matt Maiellaro, voice actor and director
  • Mister Cee, disc jockey (d.2024)^[21]
  • Rodney Mullen, skateboarder
• August 23 –Cleto Escobedo III, musician and bandleader (d.2025)
• August 25 –Michael Cohen, attorney
• August 30 –Scott Kannberg, musician (Pavement,Preston School of Industry)
• September 1 –Ken Levine, video game designer
• September 2
  • Salma Hayek, film actress
  • Tuc Watkins, actor
• September 9
  • Lance Blanks, basketball player (died2023)^[22]
  • Adam Sandler, actor, comedian, screenwriter, musician and film producer
• September 16 –Sean Frye, child actor
• September 19 –Soledad O'Brien, television journalist and news anchor^[23]
• September 22 –Mike Richter, ice hockey player
• September 24 –Michael O. Varhola, author and publisher
• September 27
  • Don Jamieson, American comedian and television host
  • Debbie Wasserman Schultz, American politician^[24]
  • Stephanie Wilson, American engineer and astronaut^[25]
• October 1 –Scott Innes, voice actor and singer
• October 2 –Yokozuna, pro wrestler (d.2000)
• October 3 –Binyamin Ze'ev Kahane, American-born Israeli rabbi, settler leader and murder victim, died inOfra,West Bank (d.2000 in Israel)
• October 5 –Terri Runnels, wrestling manager and TV host
• October 6 –Jacqueline Obradors, actress
• October 7 –Sherman Alexie, Native American author
• October 10 –Carolyn Bertozzi, chemist,Nobel Prize laureate^[26]
• October 15 –Bill Charlap, pianist and composer
• October 16 –Mary Elizabeth McGlynn, voice actress and director
• October 18
  • Dave Price, journalist and weather forecaster
  • Sam Sorbo, actress and author
• October 27 –Matt Drudge, journalist
• October 28
  • Steve Atwater, American football player
  • Andy Richter, actor, writer, comedian and late night talk show announcer
• November 2
  • David Schwimmer, screen actor
  • Sean Kanan, actor
• November 9 –Lori Lively, actress
• November 14 –Curt Schilling, baseball player
• November 19
  • Shmuley Boteach –Orthodoxrabbi, radio and television host, and author^[27]
  • Gail Devers, track and field athlete^[28]
  • Jason Scott Lee, actor and martial artist^[29]
• November 21 –Troy Aikman, sports commentator, previously pro football player
• November 22 –Michael K. Williams, actor (d.2021)^[30]
• November 27 –Andy Merrill, voice actor
• November 28 –Sam Seder, political commentator
• November 30 –Wil Mara, author
• December 1 –Katherine LaNasa, actress^[31]
• December 4
  • Fred Armisen, actor, comedian and musician
  • Carey Means, actor and voice artist
• December 8
  • Michael Cole,WWE commentator
  • Matthew Labyorteaux, actor
• December 9
  • Kirsten Gillibrand, U.S. Senator from New York from 2009
  • Michael Foster, drummer
  • Glenn Youngkin, 74th governor of Virginia
• December 10 –Mateo Romero, Native American painter
• December 12 –Greg Long, Christian musician
• December 13 –Don Roff, writer and filmmaker
• December 14 –Anthony Mason, basketball player (d.2015)
• December 21 –Adam Schefter, journalist and sportscaster
• December 27 –Fabian Núñez, politician
• Undated –Victor Vescovo, explorer and investor

• January 3
  • Marguerite Higgins, journalist (b.1920)
  • Rex Lease, film actor (b.1903)
  • Sammy Younge Jr., civil rights activist and murder victim (b.1944)
• January 14 –Bill Carr, Olympic sprinter (b.1909)
• January 16 –Courtney Hodges, army general (b.1887)
• January 17 –Vincent J. Donehue, stage director (b.1915)
• January 18 –Kathleen Norris, fiction writer (b.1880)
• January 31 –Elizabeth Patterson, actress (b.1875)
• February 1
  • Hedda Hopper, actress and columnist (b.1885)
  • Buster Keaton, silent film comic actor and director (b.1895)
• February 3 –June Walker, actress (b.1900)
• February 9 –Sophie Tucker, singer (b. 1886 in Ukraine)
• February 10 –Billy Rose, composer and bandleader (b.1899)
• February 12 –Frank Merrill, silent film actor and gymnast (b.1893)
• February 17 –Alfred P. Sloan, businessman (b.1875)
• February 18 –Robert Rossen, film director (b.1908)
• February 20 –Chester W. Nimitz, admiral (b.1885)
• February 28 –Jonathan Hale, Canadian-born actor (b.1891)
• March 1
  • William R. Munroe, admiral (b.1886)
  • Donald Stewart, actor (b.1910)
• March 3
  • William Frawley, actor (I Love Lucy) (b.1887)
  • Maxfield Parrish, painter and illustrator (b.1870)
  • Alice Pearce, screen actress (b.1917)
• March 4 –Joseph Fields, playwright (b.1895)
• March 7
  • Donald B. Beary, admiral (b.1888)
  • Chief Yowlachie, Native American actor (b.1891)
• March 20 –Johnny Morrison, baseball player (b.1895)
• March 27 –Helen Menken, stage actress (b.1901)
• April 6 –Julia Faye, film actress (b.1893)
• April 11 –William H. Pitsenbarger, U.S. Air Force Medal of Honour recipient (b.1944)
• April 29 –Eugene O'Brien, stage and silent film actor (b.1880)
• May 26 –Don Castle, film actor (b.1917)
• June 1 –Papa Jack Laine, jazz drummer and bandleader (b.1873)
• June 6 –Ethel Clayton, silent film actress (b.1882)
• June 11 –Wallace Ford, actor (b.1898 in the United Kingdom)
• June 19 –Ed Wynn, actor and comedian (b.1886)
• June 20 –Paul Kuhn, German-born operatic tenor (b.1874 in Germany)
• July 3 –Deems Taylor, composer (b.1885)
• July 6
  • Sad Sam Jones, baseball player (b.1892)
  • Anne Nagel, actress (b.1915)
• July 7 –Carmelita Geraghty, silent film actress and painter (b.1901)
• July 11 –Delmore Schwartz, poet (b.1913)
• July 18 –Bobby Fuller, rock and roll musician (b.1942)
• July 23
  • Montgomery Clift, film actor (b.1920)
  • Douglass Montgomery, film actor (b.1907)
• July 25 –Frank O'Hara, poet (b.1926)
• August 3 –Lenny Bruce, comedian (b.1925)
• August 6 –Cordwainer Smith, science fiction author (b.1913)
• August 15 –Seena Owen, silent film actress and screenwriter (b.1894)
• August 17 –Bill Allington, baseball player and manager (b.1903)
• August 23 –Francis X. Bushman, film actor (b.1883)
• August 26 –Art Baker, radio and screen actor (b.1898)
• September 6 –Margaret Sanger, birth control advocate (b.1879)^[32]
• September 8 –Walter Friedländer, art historian (b.1873 in Germany)
• September 9 –Nestor Paiva, actor (b.1905)
• September 14 –Gertrude Berg, radio and screen actress and writer (b.1899)^[33]
• September 26 –Helen Kane, "boop-a-doop" singer (b.1904)
• September 28 –Eric Fleming, television Western actor, died in Peru (b.1925)
• October 1 –Mary Logan Reddick, African American neuroembryologist (born1914)
• October 13 –Clifton Webb, actor, dancer and singer (b.1889)
• October 16 –George O'Hara, silent film actor and screenwriter (b.1899)
• October 18
  • Elizabeth Arden, cosmetics entrepreneur (b.1878 in Canada)
  • S. S. Kresge, retailer (b.1867)
• October 23 –Claire McDowell, silent film actress (b.1877)
• November 1 –Dick Roberts, banjo and guitar player (b.1897)
• November 2 –Mississippi John Hurt, African American singer and guitarist (b.1893)
• November 10 –Evelyn Sears, tennis player (b.1875)^[34]
• November 12 –Quincy Porter, composer (b.1897)^[35]
• November 28 –Boris Podolsky, physicist (b.1896 in Russia)
• December 6 –Peter H. Odegard, political scientist and academic administrator (b.1901)
• December 11 –Augusta Fox Bronner, psychologist, specialist in juvenile psychology (b.1881)
• December 14
  • Emma Dunn, English actress (b.1875)
  • Verna Felton, voice actress (b.1890)
  • Richard Whorf, actor (b.1906)
• December 15 –Walt Disney, business magnate, animator, producer, director, screenwriter and voice actor (b.1901)^[36]
• December 22
  • Harry Beaumont, film director (b.1888)
  • Lucy Burns, women's rights campaigner (b.1879)
  • Robert Keith, actor (b.1898)
• December 23 –David J. Stewart, actor (b.1915)
• December 30 –Christian Herter, Secretary of State (b.1895)

• List of American films of 1966
• Timeline of United States history (1950–1969)

• Media related to1966 in the United States at Wikimedia Commons

• 1966 in the United States
• 1960s in the United States
• 1966 by country
• 1966 in North America
• Years of the 20th century in the United States

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• Articles with unsourced statements from May 2022
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